Delirious? - Audio Lessonover?

Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

This is probably the most important album in the band's career and after the Bon Jovi support slot, a lot of hopes were pinned on this being the album to open up the mainstream. Unfortunately, where once the band penned anthems that lifted the spirit and excited the gut, 'Audio Lessonover?' sounds like an incomplete collection of not quite finished songs. The employment of producer Charles Zwicky to give the band a cutting edge sound has only left them bereft of coherence. Aside from the singles, there is little here that immediately grabs attention and after five listens I could not whistle a single song from the album. Lyrically, the album follows the questioning of 'Mezzamorphis' rather than the affirmation of 'Glo' and this artful approach still feels right for a band trying to be heard in the mainstream. Unfortunately, the heartfelt approach of the Smith/Garrard combo had not connected with me this time around. The album's title may be an in joke anagram of "Radio One loves us" but I worry that this album is not strong enough to cross over and the band have missed their moment. I truly hope it isn't so.